1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications and, more particularly, to a system and method for providing information to a facsimile machine concerning the status of a transmitted facsimile message.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, facsimile machines are ubiquitous throughout the world and generally provide reliable point-to-point communication. Unfortunately, many facsimile sessions today end without completion of the facsimile message for any of a variety of reasons. One such reason for an incomplete facsimile session is that the destination or receiving facsimile machine may be busy, out of paper or otherwise unavailable. In addition, problems with the telecommunications network (e.g., public switched telephone network (PSTN), Internet or private network), such as noisy or bad connections, may result in dropped calls between the originating or transmitting facsimile machine and the destination facsimile machine. Furthermore, incompatibilities between facsimile machines still occur despite well documented standards for such facsimile machines. In such cases, the originating facsimile machine typically attempts to transmit the facsimile several times, resulting in extended sessions or, in some cases, multiple long distance toll calls.
Advances in network facsimile services exist that provide automatic retry of a facsimile message to a destination facsimile machine without requiring specific action by the user of the originating facsimile machine. This capability can be either an implicit function of the service (e.g., store and forward systems) or can be value added to real time facsimile service, where the network can capture the outgoing facsimile message and take over the effort of completing the facsimile transmission in case of failure. Many of these known network services demodulate and then remodulate the facsimile message modem signal for transmission over a digital packet network and, hence, such network services can easily retain a copy of the facsimile message for delivery in case of an incomplete or failed facsimile session. Such services require the facsimile user to first dial the service, then enter an account number and finally the end destination telephone number. To provide ease of use, the network service provider typically provides a small double dialer to the end user, which intercepts the dialed telephone number (e.g., the number associated with the destination facsimile machine), redirects the call to a separate number for the service facility, and passes the account number and dialed number to the service facility for further processing.
A problem with such network facsimile services which provide automatic delivery of failed or incomplete facsimile messages, however, is the misperception of the user that the facsimile message has been successfully transmitted and the service facility's inability to inform the user of a non-real time delay in completing the facsimile transmission or a scheduled time of completion. The facsimile user receives a confirmation message or report that the originating facsimile machine has completed a successful transmission, which in normal operations originates from the destination facsimile machine. In the case of the network retry system, however, a confirmation report may be misleading because the destination facsimile machine has not yet actually received the facsimile message, but rather the telecommunications network has collected or stored the facsimile message for subsequent delivery. Present facsimile protocols do not allow for any confirmation reports concerning interim action by the service provider or anticipated retry time, and it has not been possible to "turn around" the facsimile session (e.g., from transmission mode to receiving mode) to permit the telecommunications network to transmit a confirmation/status report back to the originating facsimile machine without first terminating the connection with the originating facsimile machine and thereafter initiating a new call.
Although initiating a new call back to the originating facsimile machine may appear simple, it is fraught with disadvantages. First, it may be difficult for the service provider to identify the number associated with the originating facsimile machine because (1) the facsimile user may not have programmed the originating facsimile machine's current number into the header, (2) caller identification may not be available, or (3) the originating facsimile machine may be behind a private branch exchange (PBX). Furthermore, the originating facsimile machine may have a queue of outgoing facsimile messages so that it has initiated another facsimile session before the call back confirmation/status report can be received by the originating facsimile machine. Finally, the network service provider must originate an outgoing call to the originating facsimile machine in order to provide such a confirmation/status report, thereby undesirably increasing the cost of providing the facsimile service.
Similarly, even in real time facsimile transmittal over digital networks, delays in successfully transmitting facsimile messages over the telecommunications network (e.g., facsimile over the Internet) may exceed predetermined duration of current facsimile protocols so that, by the time the facsimile transmission is complete, the connection with the originating facsimile machine has been disconnected before a confirmation/status report may be transmitted by the destination facsimile machine to the originating facsimile machine.